UH File Drop

What is UH File Drop?

UH File Drop is a service for the UH community for allowing transfer of large files (up to 800MB) to others in UH and/or people unaffiliated with the University. It is recognized that there is a growing need within the University community to share more and larger amounts of information with others.

The file transfer (both in uploading and downloading) is secure, in the sense that "SSL" is used to encrypt the file(s) over the Internet. This should provide sufficient security for most users. However, it's true that in the basic mode of operation, the security of the system depends entirely on the security of the randomly generated URLs used to download the files. It is extremely unlikely that anyone would be able to guess one of these URLs. But there may be other ways for an attacker to learn the download URL, and since in the basic mode of operation that's all we require to download the files, the attacker would gain access to the files.

We do offer an additional level of protection, for users exchanging files containing sensitive information. When uploading files, you can check off the "Optional Authentication" checkbox. If this checkbox is selected, the UH user who is the recipient of the transfer (and in this case, the recipient must be a UH user) will have to login before retrieving the files. That is, the recipient must know both the secret URL and the recipient's UH Username and password.

How does it work?

The basic idea behind this service is simple: we allow people to upload potentially large files to our servers, where they will be stored for a limited period. We generate a random URL which can be used to download the files during that period. Once the files have been completely uploaded, we send an email containing this URL to the address or UH Username you have specified as the recipient. Note that the use of the service must comply with all relevant University policies, including E2.210.

This service is provided to the UH community, and is not meant to be open to the general public. However, we do wish to provide the ability for people unaffiliated with the University to use the service to share files with people within UH. In all cases, we require at least one end of the transaction (sender or receiver, that is) to be a UH person. The only practical consequence of this is that for a UH person to send files to a non-UH person, the UH person must use the link on the service home page to login prior to uploading files.

Step by Step Upload of files

The sender must go the File Drop webpage to start the process.

Click on “login here” for UH users or type in your name and email address if you don’t have a UH Username.

Type in the name and email address of the person that will receive your transferred file. You can also enter in any comments that you wish to pass on. An email with this information and URL will be sent to the person entered into this page. Press the Proceed button to continue.

Note that you can only enter one recipient name and email address. If you wish to send the same file to multiple people you can leave this page blank so that you can email to everyone at one time. This only works if you have logged in with a UH Username. More information is provided below.

You will now select the file(s) from your local computer that will be uploaded to our UH File Drop site. Click on the Browse button to find and select the file(s) that you wish to upload. You can also put in a description of the file but this is optional. Note that you can enter up to three files to be transferred but the combined size of all three files must not exceed 800MB. You can setup multiple File Drops if you have more than three files. Just go through the steps again after you finish with this File Drop. Press the “Start Upload” button when you are done.

Note the download page in the following screen. This is a randomly generated page and it is sent to the recipient you entered earlier. You can also copy this link and email it to others.

Copy the link on the page and open up your email program. Enter the people that you wish to receive the file information and in the body of your message paste the link you just copied then send the email when you are done.

Note that you can “Click here” if you have more files to upload to the UH File Drop. It will take you back to step 3.

Step by Step Download of Files

The File Drop service will send an email similar to the one below to the recipient that was entered during the upload process. Your email may look different if the sender sends a personal email.

Click on the link at the bottom of the screen above. This should open your browser and display the following page. If the sender selected “Require authentication” you will need to login using your UH Username and password before you will see the following screen.

Click on the file name to begin the download process.

You can either save the file to your local computer or open it. I would suggest that you download the file before opening it. Remember that the file is only on the File Drop site for a short period of time before it is removed.

That completes the process of sending and receiving files using the UH File Drop service.